Start with the price range where recent contracts are actually getting signed
If you are trying to decide which homes deserve your time first, start with the range where contracts are already happening. My rule of thumb in Southwest Oklahoma City, OK is to study the homes going pending before chasing every active listing, and recently that typical pending price sat at $295,000.
Here is the constraint I plan around based on the previous 30 days homes waiting to close carried a typical asking price of $295,000 recently, and newly accepted contracts came in at $306,250. This tells me the market is still rewarding homes in a fairly tight range rather than giving equal traction to every price point on the board.
That matters because active listings were priced higher, with a typical asking price of $385,450 last month. If you tour only from the top of the current asking pool, you may spend time on homes priced well above where recent contracts are clustering.
Keep this in mind. A typical sale took 16 days last month, and recent offers landed at 100% of asking. That combination tells me to stay disciplined, not scattered. When a home fits your budget and lines up with the recent contract range, move quickly enough to evaluate it on its merits instead of assuming it will sit.
Build your tour list around homes priced near the recent pending range first. Separate your must-haves from your nice-to-haves before the weekend. If you pursue a higher-priced listing, make sure the condition, features, and fit clearly justify stretching beyond where recent contracts have been landing. Some metrics were not reported for this period.
